On The Right Foot
With its 2-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton this past weekend, UC Santa Barbara took its first step in defending its Big West Conference Crown, opening league play at 1-0-0. The Gauchos controlled the game for most of the match, taking a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute off of Drew McAthy's eighth goal of the season. Fullerton tied the game at 1-1 with under ten minutes remaining in the match, capitalizing on a lapse by the UCSB defense. After a red card to Gaucho midfielder Brandon Meeks with just under five minutes to go in regulation and overtime looming now being man down, it appeared UCSB was going to have a repeat of last week's match against LMU. But with two minutes remaining in regulation, freshman defender Alan Keely went coast-to-coast through the entire Titan team, setting up Rob Friend's game-winning goal at 88:15.

The Big Guy
After what was quite possibly his biggest goal of the season, senior forward Rob Friend was named Big West Player of the Week for scoring UCSB's game-winning goal against perenial conference power Cal State Fullerton. The award is Friend's first of the year, and the third of his Gaucho career. He currently leads the Big West with 11 goals on the season, and is eighth in the nation averaging 1.10 goals per game. Adding in his three assists, he also sits atop the conference with 25 points, averaging 2.50 points per game, also eighth in the country.

Our Player Of The Week
Although freshman defender Alan Keely did not receive any Player of the Week recognitions from any publications or organizations, we in the UCSB Athletic Media Relations office have tabbed the Dubliner as our Player of the Week. In an excellent display of speed and ball control, Keely set up, rather, was almost entirely responsible for Rob Friend's late game heroics. Taking the ball from inside the Gauchos penalty box with two minutes remaining in regulation, Keely took matters into his own hands, driving the field, through the heart of Fullerton's midfield, and down to the Titan's touch-line. Then, in a veteran type move he made the smart play, dishing the ball off to Friend just in front of the net rather than taking the shot himself. It gave Keely his second assist of the year and the Gauchos their ninth win of the season.

Riverside Ripple
UC Riverside enters this week's match tied a top the Big West standings with Santa Barbara, sporting a 1-0-0 league record. Although the Highlanders overall record stands at 3-5-3, three of their losses have come against teams that were ranked in the top-25 at some point this season, while one of their ties came against No. 23 Hofstra. The Highlanders are led by sophomore goalkeeper/midfielder Luc Harrington with three goals in the field, and a conference best 5.83 saves per game average between the posts.

No Intention Of Leaving
Now that the Gauchos have burst onto the national scene, they have no intention of leaving as they continue to climb the ranks. Boasting the NCAA's top ranked offense for the fourth straight week, currently posting 3.40 goals per game average, UCSB improved to No. 22 in the NSCAA/adidas Coaches Poll, up two spots from last week. Santa Barbara's highest ranking came from Soccer Times, which tabbed the Gauchos as the No. 18 team in the NCAA.

The Boys On Defense
It seems that the goal-scorers and the assist men are the one always getting all the credit. Well, this week UCSB's defense is going to get some recognition for doing what they do best, defend. Sophomore Jon Apilado, freshman Alan Keely, sophomore Tony Lochhead comprise a defensive unit that, in the last eight matches, no team has scored more than two goals against them, and that only happened once. Over that span they have held their opponents to an average of less than nine shots per outing. giving up just six goals for a team goals against average of 0.74. A lot of the credit also needs to be given to the play of the Gauchos' defensive midfielders, senior Dan Young, sophomore Nate Boyden, and junior Darren Doi are more often than not given the task of marking up against the other team's top offensive players. It is this type of defensive play, coupled with the Gauchos' outstanding offense, that allows for Santa Barbara's Big West best +2.3 goals per game scoring margin.

Northridge Notes
Picked to finish fourth in the Big West in a preseason poll by the conference's head coaches, Cal State Northridge is showing to be better than a fourth place team. Currently with the conference's second best overall record behind the Gauchos at 7-2-1, the Matadors drew a 1-1 tie earlier this season against No. 7 LMU, the only team to have beaten UCSB this season. Northridge on the road presents the Gauchos with one of their toughest challenges of the year. The Matadors defense is ranked 13th in the nation with their opponents averaging just 0.66 goals per game.